1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a device for remote feeding of animals living in an enclosure. More particularly, it relates to a device which is powered by conventional water pressure and dispenses solid food into a food dish for the animal while concurrently dispensing water from the supply conduit to the animal. The device requires no wires or electrical power in the cage or animal pen to remotely operate the feeder since the keeper or home user need only turn on the water supply to the enclosure which is attached to the device to cause the device to dispense both food and water to the animal. The device provides therefor a safe and convenient way for homeowners to feed their pets by simple attachment to a timed watering device such an automatic sprinkler. The device may be used in instances such as kennels and animal control pens which lack electric power to the individual enclosures and provide an easy method to feed the animals without visiting each enclosure.
Safety is enhanced in both home and industrial use in that, the device may be used in such pens without worry that the animal could somehow become injured from an electric charge since it has no batteries or wires. This lack of batteries and power at the site of the food and water dispensing additionally provides for reduced maintenance since no batteries or power requirements must maintained.
2. Prior Art
The feeding of caged and penned animals has been a requirement since man began to domesticate animals and keep them for companionship and end products. As with any living creature, domestic and household pets and institutionally caged animals need food and water to continue living. Since they are unable to fend for themselves due to the very nature of their enclosure, they must be regularly fed by their keepers.
Many a homeowner with pets has been delayed in arriving home and found a ravenous and thirsty dog greeting them at the door long past their regular feeding time. A simple attachment of the device herein disclosed, to a timed watering system such as a sprinkler with an automatic timer would alleviate this vexing problem. When the sprinkler or automatic timer is activated, the device dispenses food to the animal along with water thereby allowing the pet owner relief from exacting time schedules to feed the pet.
In the case of the kennel and animal control industry regular feeding and watering is also a must and a time consuming affair. Cats and especially dogs who are picked up in most areas of the country by officers of animal control are generally located in pens at an animal control compound during a detention period. They must be fed and watered regularly by the keepers which is both labor and schedule intensive keepers must make sure the animals are timely fed and watered to maintain the health of the creatures in their charge.
The same is true in the kennel industry where dogs and cats are voluntarily temporarily located in the same type of penned enclosures by their owners. Though not the same type of facility as the animal control type of enclosures, the commercial kennels still have the same responsibility to adequately feed and water the animals in their charge on a regular basis.
Most animal control facilities in the United States were built many years ago when standards of care were not as high as the current standards. These facilities generally lack a power supply in the individual cells or enclosures however they almost always have some sort of water supply in the general proximity to the cages if not in the individual cages. While the proximity of the water spigot provides a manner to provide water to the animals it does not provide any aid in food dispensing to the animals. Further, most such spigots are attached to a water supply that is pressurized but requires that each individual spigot be turned on an off whenever water is supplied to the animal. While making the task of watering the animals a simple matter of turning on the spigot, it is still a requirement that food and water must be individually dispensed to the animals at appropriate times which is very labor intensive. The same is true of most kennels as they too suffer from aged facilities causing rise to a very labor intensive and time consuming process to feed and water the animals in their care.
Currently, the keeper must individually visit each and every animal cell in the kennel or animal control facility. On such visits the keeper turns the spigot in each cell to provide water from the pressurized system to a bowl in the cell. When solid food is dispensed to the animals the same cell by cell visitation takes place to dispense the required amount of food to each individual animal in the required amounts for the size of the animal being kept.
Such a time consuming task as noted earlier is very labor intensive and allows the keepers little time to visit with the animals in a kennel situation since they are always out feeding and watering individual animals. By the time they finish with the last animal in their care there is little time to waste before the needs of the first one need be addressed since it was so long since they fed or watered the animal. Being so labor intensive the current systems also raise cost and lower the amount of time of human companionship that may be provided the animal for exercise or play since costs to run the facility are so high due to the feeding requirements.
The device as herein disclosed addresses a number of older kennel and animal control facilities. First, the lack of electrical power to the individual cells to power a feeding device is overcome without the need for very expensive remodeling of the facility to add power. Second, the labor intensive individual visits to each animal enclosure over a long period of time is obviated by the automatic feeding and watering of all of the animals in the facility at once.
Prior art has attempted to address some of the aforementioned problems and solutions but without great success.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,862 (Pitchford) teaches a timed automatic pet food and water dispenser for animals. However Pitchford requires batteries and or electrical power in the enclosures in which it is located to power the device. It thus requires that homeowners wire their garage or home to run the device and also requires the rewiring of older kennels and animal control facilities or batteries to be left in the devices which must be maintained and could cause injury to the animal if they leak.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,394 (Balistreri) provides the remote feeding of animals on a cyclical basis using an in-cell style apparatus. Balistreri however, is a complicated apparatus requiring the use of timers, levers, a ballast tank to power the device and other valves and conduits all requiring maintenance and subject to breaking. Ballistreri also cites an important aspect of the device being a microprocessor and electronic controls which as mentioned. Such devices require an in-cell electronic power source to power and operate the device which as note is not generally available in older facilities and increases the cost of the device itself.
Other devices attempt to solve the problem of labor automatic feeding of pets and intensive animal food and water dispensing but fail to address the lack of electrical power and maintenance requirements of the machines themselves if they have on board electronics. As such, there exits a continuing need for a remote controlled animal feeder that is easily installed in antiquated animal care facilities lacking power and that needs little maintenance itself. The device should be easily controlled by the operators remotely by the setting of a timer or manual remote initiation of the operation of the device to dispense food and water to the animals.